The Black Leader
The Black Leader (real name: Griffin) is the main antagonist of the Universal Pictures' 1996 animated film, Stanley: The Little Dragon 2, the sequel to the 1987 film, Stanley: The Little Dragon. He is voiced by Corey Burton, who also played Chernabog, Captain Hook, Butch Jones in Disney's Tarzan, V.V. Argost, Quint, and The Brutish Guard. History Early life When Griffin was just a boy, he found a dragon in a vulnerable state, but chose to kill it in its sleep instead of training it. As such, his village considered and treated him as a hero, renames Griffin "the Black Leader". Motivated by this, Griffin dedicated the rest of his life to killing dragons. He eventually succeeded in hunting down all of the dragons, save for one—Stanley, possibly because the latter was with Prince Kevin and sheltered as a result, yet Griffin was unaware of it. ''Stanley: The Little Dragon 2'' Grimmel the Black Leader was hired by the Warlords because of their problem with dragon poaching to capture Pyro, the only dragon he hasn't yet killed. Whilst accepting the offer, the Black Leader has his own intentions towards Pyro, Stanley's half-brother. He decides to use a female Light Fury as bait for the dragon, freeing it at Berk. He also hides a trap and leaves a poison dart nearby. Whilst Kevin is looking through his father's notes, the Black Leader approaches him. He walks down the stairs and pours himself a glass of tea before explaining how he killed every dragon and shoots a sleeping Stanley underneath a blanket. After Hiccup proclaims that he will never give Stanley up, the Dragon Riders burst out of hiding and into the room, revealing that it was Fishlegs that was shot, not Toothless. The Leader responds by commanding his Deathgrippers to attack the Dragon Riders and burn the house down with their acid before disappearing with an ultimatum: if Toothless is not surrendered the next day, everything that Kevin loves will be destroyed. This prompts the Vikings and all the jesters to leave Berk on a quest to find the Hidden World. But unbeknownst to them, they're doing exactly what Grimmel wants them to do. Soon after the Berkians' departure, The Leader meets the Warlords by the Great Hall, where he reveals he knows exactly where the Berkians are going. After Kevin and Jane return to New Berk from the Hidden World with The Leader and Stanley, they discover the Light Fury has followed them. It's a moment of happiness that quickly turns around as the Black Leader finally takes the opportunity to capture Pyro and recapture all the dragons' existence. But in an attempt to protect their alpha, all dragons on the island come to save Toothless. But the Black Leader, having foreseen this, points his crossbow at the dragon and orders Stanley to call the dragons off. Having succeeded in his mission he leads the dragons to the Warlords, but decides to alter their deal and keep Stanley and Maggie for himself. Prince Kevin and the other Riders surprisingly come flying towards the armada in their flightsuits, starting a big battle. The Leader's platform quickly gets destroyed and in an attempt to get away he puts one of his collars on the Light Fury, which injects her with the venom of his Deathgrippers, gaining control over the dragon. Kevin frees Stanley and his parents, the Leader and Maggie, and starts chasing the Leader down. But the Leader is prepared and fires one of his darts towards them. Kevin evades the dart by jumping of Maggie, but this results in the dart hitting Stanley instead, prompting Stanley to fall towards the ocean below. Kevin stabs the Black Leader with an arrow, who mortally wounds him, kicks him of the Light Fury and seeing Stanley is falling, removes the Leader's collar. He tells her to save Toothless and lets go, so he and the Black Leader fall to their deaths. Maggie saves her son, Stanley, and comes back for Kevin, who removes his prosthetic leg to separate himself from the Black Leader. The Leader carries Kevin to safety while the Black Leader hits the water, which results in his death. With the Black Leader is gone for good, the dragon hunters were useless without his leadership and were forced to leave. This would be the final time dragon hunters would come and capture and harm dragons, who were final forever safe and living in peace with humans who care for them. Until then, only the knights will guard their secret. Personality The Black Leader has been referred to as the darkest adversary to all of the Dragon Riders, including the draconic creatures themselves. He possesses a deep hatred for dragonkind and believes humans and dragons cannot coexist peacefully together, and that dragons should be wiped out completely from the world. However, The Black Leader is delusional by his thinking because deep down, he is actually a ruthless, greedy and arrogant hunter who went deep beyond redemption. Despite wanting to hunt all dragons down, he is very sophisticated by not attacking all at once, also showing himself as sensible, according to Kevin, as he hatched twisted plans which only he knows how they work, perfectly defining that his skills are unmatched, being the smartest villain in the series (surpassing even the combination of Joe's intelligence). In spite of his sadism, delusions, and wicked nature, the Black Leader seems to own a tiny bit of nobility, as according to his dialogue between Kevin in their first encounter, it can be implied that the Black Leader once had at the very least respect for The King, Kevin's father, because both of them apparently agreed with their views on the danger that represented the dragons, though the Black Leader was oblivious that the King later changed his opinion. However, the Black Leader did sit on the King's chair right in Prince Kevin's castle, something he's called out for. He also has loyalty to no one, as though he made a deal with the Warlords to bring them all the dragons, he altered it and refused to give them Stanley so he could dispose of them himself, therefore being dishonorable and was never noble in the first place. Due to his true dishonorable nature, he possesses an irredeemable nature of being a villain. Appearence The Black Leader is a tall, slender man with receded but frizzled gray hair, pale skin, and light blue eyes. He wears a dark brown robe with a hooded jacket and leather armor, brown pants, and grayish-brown boots. Powers and Abilities *'Dragon Hunting': The Black Leader is known as the smartest dragon hunter in the world. His skill in dragon hunting is unmatched. The most infamous example of his hunting skills is the fact that he hunted the dragons that is said to be the smartest, fastest, and most powerful species of dragon, to the brink of extinction. *'Dragon Manipulation': The Black Leader was capable of manipulating dragons under the command of his army. *'Dragon Riding': The Black Leader was capable of riding the dragons. Which was shown when he rode the dragon after drugging it with the Deathgripper venom. Quotes *"Have my dragon ready when I return, or I will destroy everything you love!" Gallery The_Black_Leader.png Stanley The Little Dragon 2 - He's a Griffin Song.png|The Black Leader abusing Stanley and Cynder, singing He's a Griffin The Black Leader - Have my dragon ready when I return.png|The Black Leader revealing his true nature to Prince Kevin. The Black Leader the Cigar Man.png|Live-action Black Leader Trivia *Although driven for his desire of killing dragons as previously mentioned, considering that he apparently had no specific reasons regarding his motives, it's debated whether the Black Leader just wanted to exterminate dragonkind for pure sadism and delusions, or if he was just trying to eliminate all dragons to ensure the safety of humankind, unlike Uncle, Stanley's uncle and the Leader's older brother, only wanted to kill the Leader and become the Alpha dragon in the first film. However, the Black Leader tried to kill Kevin in his final moments, which seems to point to the former. *Although he is the main antagonist, the Black Leader is arguably far more evil than Uncle, as he is far more cruel to all dragons and people (including his own allies), even planning to kill all the dragons by power, so he will return as "a hero" of the entire world. *The Black Leader is the second villain in the Stanley: The Little Dragon franchise to be Pure Evil, with the first being Moe the Troll. Like Uncle, the Black Leader was successful in his goals, which in separating humans and dragons forever, though not the way he expected, which is by hunting all dragons down. They were also resposible for major deaths in the series. For Uncle, the Leader. For the Black Leader, every single Night Fury but Stanley. *The Black Leader is the foremost antagonist in the Stanley: The Little Dragon series. Unlike Uncle, he hunted the Night Furies to near-extinction, which is one of the two reasons why there was no information in the Book of Dragons and was never seen in the first film, as well as the fact that it was a plot point. However, he is proven to be arguably even more evil and dangerous than Uncle, who was just being driven by revenge to hunt and enslave dragons rather than being driven for sadism and pleasure to kill them without reason, making the Black Leader the final antagonist of the franchise. *He also has a prosthetic left arm. This is because he lost his arm to the dragons, presumably while trying to control them. However, because he wants to seem invincible, he hides it from his men and his enemies with a cape. *At the end, the Black Leader could have drowned and died possibly after falling into the ocean, since he would not have been able to swim with his metal leg destroyed during the battle. 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